Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween - Caterpillar Jack'o'Lantern

Happy Halloween everyone!  And Happy Birthday to me!  Today's artwork comes from a few years ago when my family took a Disney Cruise during the week of Halloween, and I got to celebrate my birthday onboard the ship, it was great.
For my birthday, a friend of mine drew this fetching image and stuck it to my stateroom door.  What a nice birthday surprise!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Disneyland or WDW Color Backstage Snapshot of the Queen of Hearts

The person I acquired these from said these were taken backstage at WDW prior to the park opening in 1971.  The snapshot is dated July '71, approximately 2 months prior to the opening. 
I suppose it is possible that they were rehearsing parades and such that much in advance, but I kinda doubt it. I think this was probably taken backstage at Disneyland.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Disneyland Black and White Snapshot of the Mad Hatter - Old Rubber Head Version with a Modification?

A very well behaved Mad Hatter photographed here all by himself.  Again, something that would never happen these days as the characters get mobbed immediately when they appear.  But what's that on his hat?
How bizarre, a San Diego Padres button.  Was Disneyland hosting some sort of Padres event that day?  I can't imaging any other reason that a button like that would be on his hat, unless he didn't know it was there.
Padres memorabilia collectors could probably date this photo based on the button, but I'm guessing 1970s.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Disneyland Color Snapshot of Alice and the White Rabbit

I just got in a batch of vintage photos of the walkaround characters, thought I'd spend a few days posting them.  First up, Alice and the White Rabbit.  I love this photo.  Alice having her apron strings tied (untied?) by the White Rabbit.  You'd never see these kinds of things in the park today, and I for one think that is kinda sad.
Based on the format, costumes, and the way the color has faded, I'd place this somewhere in the mid-late 1960s.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Mickey Mouse Weekly #598 from England - October 27th, 1951

Back on schedule now with issue 598, this time featuring Donald in a story called simply Stampede!  Any story with Donald must have an exclamation point in the title.
Chapter 15 finds Alice being unceremoniously ejected from the Garden of Live Flowers, and encountering (yay!) the Caterpillar!.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Mickey Mouse Weekly #597 from England - October 20th, 1951

Ok, I suck.  Or at least I suck at the new Blogger scheduling function.  But, better late than never.  Here we have the next installment in our MMW series, this time featuring a very cool cover with Goofy sleepwalking amongst some ghostly inhabitants.
Chapter 14 brings Alice to the Garden of Live Flowers, with all its various floral and insectoid inhabitants.  I've always loved Bread and Butter Flies.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Happy Birthday Mary Blair - Google Style!

How about that?  Google honored Mary Blair's 100th birthday today.  I guess she has hit the mainstream consciousness, bad news for me since I still don't own a Mary Blair piece. 
In honor of this amazing artist's 100th year, here are a few of her exceptional Alice pieces.  Enjoy.











Mickey Magazine #211 from Belgium - October 21st, 1954

Earlier this year you may remember I did an entire series on the Belgian Mickey Magazine serialization of Alice. 
A few years later, in issue #211, they printed a promotional photo of Walt Disney drawing Alice.  This was clearly meant to be used during the original run of the feature film, I wonder why they chose to run this particular photo nearly 3 years after the release?  Surely there were other photos available.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Italian Full Page Magazine Ad

This large format full page ad features exceptional art of Alice with Figaro-as-Dinah (as previously mentioned in this post from several years ago), along with lots of other denizens of Wonderland.  This image was also used for a small store display that I have hiding somewhere, as well as a large movie poster, both from Italy.  I do not know if this is Al Dempster art, but it certainly looks adapted from it if it is not.  Notice that the ad also mentions Nature's Half Acre (la Terra Questa Sconosciuta), the True-Life Adventure that was in front of Alice in its original release.
I do not know from which magazine this came, but the reverse has an ad for Aurum, a sweet liquor popular in Italy.  If anyone has any information on the source magazine, please let me know!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Vacationland Magazine Summer 1964

I love this cover, using the same photo as on the Disneyland Tencennial Trading card in this post, but one year earlier.
I especially like the composition of the photo, taken from inside the rabbit hole looking out at the Caterpillar car.  I must say, I wouldn't be caught dead selling balloons in 1964 if I had to dress like Pinocchio, but it looks cute in this photo.

The insides are filled with standard articles about Disneyland and surrounding attractions, but I must say the article on the Disneyland Tour Guides is a hoot.  Pert brunettes from Lancashire England must have been all the rage in 1964.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Mickey Mouse Weekly #596 from England - October 13th, 1951

This weeks installment does not have a Mickey Mouse story on the cover, which I find very odd as the comic is titled Mickey Mouse Weekly.
Instead, it sports another cool Alice badge inset, which I have cropped and cleaned up for potential use elsewhere.
On page 11, we learn the final outcome of the Alice Painting Competition.  Looking at the list of winners is pretty scary in today's climate.  Talk about privacy violations, they published the full address of all the winners!?  Can't imagine the flap that would cause today.
Chapter 13 features the Dodo and the White Rabbit preparing to burn the house down with Alice in it, until Alice finds her own way of the situation.

Monday, October 10, 2011

600th Post - Old School Cloisonne Pin of Cheshire Cat

Wow, 600 posts.  Hard to believe, and that's even with my relatively paltry output these past few months.
While not exactly vintage, I love this pin.  It is from the 'old days', when there were about 10 pins total, and they were all available on one spinner rack in the Disneyland Emporium.  This Cheshire Cat pin was very late to the game, and was really hard to find - still is.  I remember these pins from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, before the whole pin thing really took off once the Disney Stores came into being.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Mickey Mouse Weekly #595 from England - October 6th, 1951

Another fun cover on this issue from October 6th, 1951, with the title Stand and Deliver (makes me think of Adam and the Ants, but I'm dating myself).
Chapter 12 features the Dodo advising the White Rabbit on how to remove Alice, and we get a visit from one of my favorite (albeit only briefly seen) characters, Bill the lizard (poor Bill).